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G’Day Melbourne! You’ve discovered this week’s podcast recap of The Leftovers. Josh Wigler (@roundhoward) and Antonio Mazzaro (@acmazzaro) are here to start a fire in the hotel room of your hearts and minds. Or, at the very least they are here make overtly ridiculous statements like that as a means of coping with the nuclear strike to the feels that popped off in this week’s episode of The Leftovers.

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Josh Wigler is an entertainment journalist who covers Survivor, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead and other popular TV shows for The Hollywood Reporter. He's the co-author of The Evolution of Strategy, creator of First One Out, host of Post Show Recaps and The Wiggle Room, and occasional Wanda Shirk impersonator.
He once interviewed Kermit the Frog about The Avengers and The Hunger Games, and hung out with Daryl Dixon and Ted the teddy bear during New Year's... so, you know, he's kind of a big deal. Follow Josh on Twitter @roundhoward.

Antonio Mazzaro is a Kentuckian, Lawyer, and Radio/TV/Film graduate of Northern Kentucky University--but he would love it if you didn't hold any of those things against him. Antonio's covered shows including Breaking Bad for Post Show Recaps, and Jack Benny, My Morning Jacket, and the Cincinnati Bearcats are a few of his favorite things. The TV character he would most like to emulate is his hero, Mr. Rogers. Follow Antonio on Twitter: @acmazzaro.

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Hi! THanks for the show guys! Wanted to say… I love the Leftovers, and am really enjoying this season, an improvement on previous seasons I think. I wanted to mention how great the depiction of Australia and use of Australian actors has been. I am from Oz and it’s frustrating how often shows and movies use Australia but don’t actually do any research. Lost is another of my faves, but the depiction of Australia, the obvious fact that all the actors are trying to attempt Oz accents, and that the whole show is shot in Hawaii, is bleedingly obvious to any Aussie…. So The Leftovers is great. Really shot here, and using great Aussie actors that are familiar faces on our screens. G’day Melbourne isn’t a real show but it’s very close to Sunrise. the Aussie morning show with Karl Stepanovic. I was a bit concerned that their depiction of Aboriginal Australians would be stereotypical but thought it was great that the cops that stopped him doing the ceremony were Aboriginal themselves. It’s altogether plausible there may be only one elder from an Aboriginal group that might be the last to retain traditional knowledge. Before invasion, the Aboriginal people had over 500 different languages (not dialects, languages) and many were lost after invasion, along with much culture. So whilst the story device feels a little “convenient”, it’s plausible in the context of our history. The one thing I’d say is I doubt Kevin Sr would survive as long as he did in the desert… There are many stories of people dying by walking in the desert without water…. So maybe they are telling us he is a Messiah? As a different point – if Kevin is Jesus, is Matt his John the Baptist? Is Kevin the father of God? Is Nora Judas? Are there twelve disciples? Could be interesting to discuss. Anyway thanks again!

Manu

Great recap, here is mine focusing on the religious and philosophical issues in the episode, mainly the very thin line that separates faith and delusion (Is Kevin simply crazy?). I also discuss that National Geographic Magazine that is driving some people insane. https://goo.gl/oWfWgv

GeekFurious

I THINK THIS EPISODE AFFIRMS MY EMAIL!!!111oneoneone

We are at the halfway point where a season often sets up the problem in need of resolution. The fact Lindelof made it Nora & Kevin’s break-up AND he already showed her refuse to even acknowledge knowing him at the end of episode 3.01, nearly confirms to me Nora and Kevin will be together at the end.

The scene in 3.01 is the sleight-of-hand.

They need to talk. Kevin needs to accept Nora will never get over her loss. Nora needs to accept there is no answer to her loss. Kevin also needs to deal with his sanity and accept there is no right or wrong answer for him. Is he the messiah? Maybe. Is he insane? Maybe. But can he function in a relationship with someone without drowning them in sorrow in order to move on –the way we see Nora at the end of the episode and the way he did his supposed demon in crazy-town side-ways world.

So, as I said in a previous email, and Josh said in the recap, by the end of the series, I still believe, Nora and Kevin will be together, hiding in Australia from the believers who are waiting for messiah policeman Kevin to be reborn.

2thingsRinfinite

I agree this is where we are heading. I don’t think we will get many answers on anything that has happened. Nor(a) do I think another major event will happen. I think it will end with Kevin and Nora finally being okay with moving forward with each other, and not dwelling in the past. I also agree with another post here that Nora got pregnant at the airport. So they can start a new family under a new identity.

GeekFurious

I didn’t think about the pregnancy angle but that makes sense since it would explain why she was denied.

stoptheinsanity

You guys are doing an excellent job as always. I have one question. Is it possible that the microwave people actually work for the same people as Nora? Could this have been a way to find out if she is still of sound mind to continue her job?

Do you guys think it’s ever possible that Nora got a baby or twins after they had sex at the airport but then she chose to be radiated?

eccola, la lei

I think that whether Nora knew if she would go in the microwave or not, Kevin throughout the episode seemed to believe she might, which made the breakup inevitable.
There’s a parallel to his own suicide mission in Season 2, when he goes back to Virgil to take the poison. He did so only after calling Nora to ask if she’d come back if he got rid of Patty, so he was only willing to risk killing himself to try to get her, his family, back.
Nora however is willing to risk it to get back to her children, her previous family, leaving Kevin behind. I’m sure this would be especially painful to him because of the way Laurie abandoned him and their family after the Departure to join the Guilty Remnant. Even before he knew about the microwave, Kevin seemed to follow Nora to Australia because he was already on some level afraid of losing her.
I think this might really be the end of their relationship.

DanG

Random thoughts:

1. Always great single lines that encapsulate the episode
(a) TSA Agent: “..then you can’t go with her.” or
(b) NORA: “..we’re in a toxic, co-dependent relationship and realize we are better off apart” (c) TSA agent asks if they are together, Nora ignores and Kevin has to answer “yes”.

2. Love the continued theme of water as “a transition” (e.g., the quarry, the bathtub, the well, etc.). Obviously the final scene with Nora (crying?) under the sprinkler. But, also the one where the scientists gave Nora a glass of water she drank immediately (when I think she really changed from not believing to wanting to believe). Once again, a “hotel episode where Kevin drinks NO water. (also – the exact same fire alarm in the lobby as Kevin is leaving (as Int’l Assassin as cool)).

3. Kevin may be going crazy – but he’s still no fool – he knew Nora was smuggling something and sees right through the fact she has no jurisdiction in Australia.

4.FWIW, Dr. Bekker was speaking Dutch (not Swedish). But, why was she eating a can of sardines??!

Finally – always remember, the best long-con is one where they beg you to take their money…. I don’t think it matters what answer you give to the baby question (the first time)….

eccola, la lei

Good point about the jurisdiction. I think the fact that Nora wasn’t really sent by work, and that therefore it was her (their?) $20K was a big red flag for Kevin as well.

Drew Douglas

Two things–

Did they ever explain what Michael was doing when he slammed the laptop shut in the first episode? If not, I’m assuming he was maybe transcribing the Book of Kevin… so all is not lost.

Two… Rumor has it the koala in G’Day Melbourne was Damon Lindelof.

Antonio Mazzaro

screenshot makes it seem like he was looking at news articles from mapleton–likely about Kevin’s role in the GR incidents there.

Matthew Murphy

I loved the appearance of the practice magic box in this episode. The zapping device sounds just as ridiculous as that did in Lost.

John Percival

How weird is it that Carrie Coon’s character on Fargo has the same problems getting things to work, automatic doors, auto soap dispenser, auto faucet, hand dryer. This has to be intentional to the same pattern on The Leftovers.

Rubicon

Josh, Antonio, could you discuss Lindelof and the end of The Leftovers.

Lindelof is one of the best genre writers coming out of Hollywood. I mainly view him as a religious writer who uses the form of science fiction to explore this existential terrain. In certain ways he reminds me of Don DeLillo.

In television-auteurist terms, he’s moved into rarefied company with The Leftovers. In that he was able to follow up the juggernaut of Lost with a second
successful show. But the thing that plagues Lindelof’s career is the controversial ending of Lost. So, now, with the ending of The Leftovers fast approaching, the shadow of Lost looms large.

Will Lindelof be able to stick the landing? What will a satisfactory ending of The Leftovers be? What happens to his reputation if it’s received poorly? Lindelof feels this pressure. Fans and critics feel this pressure. To take a cue from the man himself about his chances. Are you a man of science or a man of faith?

Jayden James

Can confirm that is what the library looks like.

Angus Kart

great podcasts, but please, somebody run the audio through a filter or something and normalize Mazzaro’s audio volume. Every podcast I get my ears blasted because his audio goes quiet for a while, then the volume jumps way up for a bit.